Drops in BP, heart rate confer less anxiety in users of digital CV risk management system
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Key takeaways:
- Most users of a smartphone-based CV risk management system who had severe anxiety were able to improve anxiety symptoms.
- Improvement in anxiety was tied to improvements in BP and heart rate.
Many users of a smartphone-based CV risk management system who had severe anxiety at baseline had improved anxiety symptoms over time, which was associated with reductions in BP and heart rate, researchers reported.
The researchers conducted a retrospective observational study of 5,079 participants (mean age, 58 years; 58% women) using the smartphone-based CV risk management system (Hello Heart) who completed at least two Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) questionnaires from April 2020 to March 2023. The results were presented at the American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions.
“Through human-centric design, members receive tailored and actionable insights around healthy eating, activity and medication tracking,” Edo Paz, MD, senior vice president of medical affairs at Hello Heart, who presented the findings, told Healio. “Members can also track key heart metrics like blood pressure and cholesterol. The experience is unique to each person yet consistent with clinical guidelines. Our personalized, AI-driven coaching helps members understand and manage top heart health risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. We also help members identify and understand changes in heart markers that might indicate heightened risk.”
The outcome of interest was change in GAD-7 score. At baseline, mean GAD-7 score was 7, mean BP was 135/83 mm Hg, mean heart rate was 75 bpm, 12% of participants had severe anxiety (defined as GAD-7 score > 14) and 34.3% had stage 2 hypertension.
“There is an increasing body of evidence that heart health and brain health are connected,” Paz told Healio. “In particular, anxiety is a risk factor for hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, and this relationship is mediated by both direct biological effects and indirectly by behaviors. Among the different features available on our app, one allows users to take an anxiety symptom assessment, and complete activities that target stress and anxiety. So we wanted to observe if Hello Heart members with anxiety saw improvements in their symptoms, and how these improvements correlated with their heart health markers (like blood pressure and heart rate).”
Among those with severe anxiety at baseline, 71% had a reduction in GAD-7 score by the time of the second GAD-7 assessment (mean change, –4.5 ± 0.23), Paz and colleagues found.
Rate of change of systolic BP (beta = 0.03 ± 0.008; tau rank correlation = 3.6) and of heart rate (beta = 0.02 ± 0.009; tau rank correlation = 2.3) were associated with GAD-7 change, and greater reductions in BP and heart rate were linked with greater reductions in anxiety, according to the researchers.
“This suggests that digital coaching targeting CV risk factors has the potential to also improve mental health,” Paz told Healio. “The fields of cardiovascular and behavioral medicine are continuing to explore this link and how heart-healthy behaviors can be good for your brain, too.”
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Paz YE, et al. Abstract P339. Presented at: American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions; Sept. 7-10, 2023; Boston.
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